Messi injures hamstring

Originally published April 2, 2013 at 8:12 pm

Updated April 2, 2013 at 10:16 pm

Lionel Messi, right, of FC Barcelona is tracked by David Beckham (32) of Paris Saint-Germain during Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League soccer quarterfinal in Paris. Messi suffered a hamstring injury during the 2-2 draw.

Lionel Messi helped FC Barcelona of Spain gain a slight edge in its UEFA Champions League quarterfinal with Paris Saint-Germain, then limped...

Lionel Messi helped FC Barcelona of Spain gain a slight edge in its UEFA Champions League quarterfinal with Paris Saint-Germain, then limped off after injuring a hamstring.

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Blaise Matuidi scored on the last kick of the match, giving host PSG a 2-2 draw Tuesday in the first leg of the total-goals series. If the aggregate score is tied, away goals are used as a tiebreaker.

Messi, a four-time FIFA player of the year, scored his 57th goal of the season in the 38th minute, then favored his right leg in the final minutes of the first half and was replaced by Cesc Fabregas at the start of the second. Barcelona officials said Messi will have tests Wednesday on his right hamstring.

Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano left on a stretcher in the 84th minute after tearing the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during a collision with teammate Jordi Alba. Mascherano is expected to miss at least six weeks.

Xavi Hernandez scored on a penalty kick in the 89th minute for Barcelona. Zlatan Ibrahimovic got PSG’s first goal.

The second leg is April 10 in Barcelona.

“It’s going to be tough there, but it’s not going to be impossible,” said PSG midfielder David Beckham, a former England captain who played for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer from 2007 through last year.

Beckham, 37, made his third start for PSG and got a yellow card for a late sliding tackle from behind on Alexis Sanchez in the 68th minute.

“He played really well with good passes, changing sides,” PSG coach Carlo Ancelotti said of Beckham.

In another Champions League match, Bayern Munich of Germany beat visiting Juventus of Italy 2-0 on goals by David Alaba and Thomas Mueller.

Tennis

Williams wins match on clay

American Serena Williams, ranked No. 1 in the world, made a transition from hard courts to clay and won her opening match at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C.

Williams beat 85th-ranked Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-3, looking uncomfortable at times when the Italian was able to get her running.

“I was just trying to get my stability,” she said.

Williams won the Sony Open on a fast surface Saturday in Key Biscayne, Fla., beating Maria Sharapova of Russia 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the final.

College football

Oregon begins spring practice

The Oregon Ducks began spring practice under new coach Mark Helfrich.

The team’s former offensive coordinator, promoted to coach in January after Chip Kelly left to guide the NFL Philadelphia Eagles, called his first practice at the helm “weird, at points.”

Oregon (12-1) was ranked second in last season’s final Associated Press poll. The team’s spring game is April 27.

“We can’t be in coast, we can’t be in decline, we can’t be in idle, we can’t be in neutral,” Helfrich said.

Obituary

Ex-coach Fairbanks dies at 79

Chuck Fairbanks, a former football coach for Oklahoma and the NFL New England Patriots, died in Scottsdale, Ariz., after battling brain cancer. He was 79.

Fairbanks was 52-15-1 at Oklahoma from 1967 through the 1972 season. He coached New England from 1973 through the 1978 season and had a 46-39 record.

Elsewhere

• Relatives and supporters of the nation’s first black heavyweight boxing champion, Jack Johnson, are turning to YouTube to convince President Barack Obama to posthumously pardon Johnson of a 1913 conviction for accompanying a white woman across state lines.

Johnson was convicted by an all-white jury for violating a Jim Crow-era law that made it illegal to transport white women across state lines for “immoral purposes.” He was sentenced to a year in prison.

Lawmakers have asked for a pardon three times in the past decade, most recently in March, though none has been successful. The Justice Department has said its general policy is not to process posthumous pardon requests, and White House officials declined to comment on the most recent congressional resolution.

On Sunday, relatives and supporters gathered in Galveston, Texas — Johnson’s hometown — to honor him and record a video to go to Obama. Johnson’s great-great niece, Linda Haywood, said Johnson was “railroaded” by authorities.

• The Annika Award will be presented to the top NCAA Division I women’s golfer, starting next year.

“I’m thrilled to be able to have my name on this,” said Annika Sorenstam, 42, a college standout at Arizona before her Hall of Fame career on the LPGA Tour.